Posted on 01/19/2018 8:53:23 AM PST by Red Badger
Accra, Ghana - They have come from the big cities of San Francisco, Chicago, and New York. Thousands of them. And many refuse to return.
A new wave of African Americans is escaping the incessant racism and prejudice in the United States. From Senegal and Ghana to The Gambia, communities are emerging in defiance of conventional wisdom that Africa is a continent everyone is trying to leave.
It is estimated that between 3,000 and 5,000 African Americans live in Accra, the Ghanaian capital. They are teachers in small towns in the west or entrepreneurs in the capital and say they that even though living in Ghana is not always easy, they feel free and safe.
Take Muhammida el-Muhajir, a digital marketer from New York City, who left her job to move to Accra.
She says she moved, because despite her education and experience, she was always made to feel like a second-class citizen. Moving was an opportunity to fulfil her potential and avoid being targeted by racial violence.
She told Al Jazeera her story: On life as a second-class citizen in the US...
"I grew up in Philadelphia and then New York. I went to Howard, which is a historically black university. I tell people that Ghana is like Howard in real life. It felt like a microcosm of the world. At university, they tell us the world isn't black, but there are places where this is the real world. Howard prepares you for a world where black people are in charge, which is a completely different experience compared to people who have gone to predominantly white universities."
I can't say what's happening in America today is any worse than what's been happening at any other time.
Muhammida el-Muhajir
On her first trip to Africa...
"The first country I went to was Kenya. I was 15 and travelled with a group of kids. I was one of two black kids. I saw early that I could fit in and wasn't an outsider. Suddenly it switched, I came from America where I was an outsider, but in Africa, I no longer felt like that. I did graduate school in Ghana in 2003 and went back to New York and then moved to Ghana in 2014.
"I have no connection to Ghana. Some people in my family did tests, and we found ties to Senegal and The Gambia, but I don't think you can ever figure it out. No matter where you were sold or left the port, Senegal or Ghana, no one can be certain where you came from."
No matter where you were sold or left the port, Senegal or Ghana, no one can be certain where you came from.
On leaving New York for Accra...
"Even when you live in a place like New York as a black person, you're always an outsider.
"You hear stories about the richest black people, like Oprah Winfrey, getting shut out of a store or Jay-Z not being allowed to buy [an apartment]. Those things happen. It doesn't matter if you're a celebrity, you're a second-class citizen. This was the biggest issue for me.
"In America, you're always trying to prove yourself; I don't need to prove myself to anyone else's standards here. I'm a champion, I ran track and went to university, and I like to win, so I refuse to be in a situation where I will never win."
You might not have electricity, but you won't get killed by the police either.
Muhammida el-Muhajir
On moving to Ghana...
"There are amenities that I am used to at home in New York - like parties, open bars and fashion, so when I realised I could do the same things in Africa as I could back in the US, I was sold. There is also a big street art festival here, and that was the difference from when I came [as a student]. I saw the things that I love at home here, so I decided that now is the time." On Ghanaian reactions...
"When Ghanaians find out that I live here, they're usually confused about why I chose to live here as an American. There is definitely certain access and privilege being American here, but it's great to finally cash in on that because it doesn't mean anything in America.
"There are also plenty of privileged Ghanaians; if you take away race there's a class system."
On the 'Blaxit' documentary...
"In my documentary, I chose five people that I've met since I've been here and every one of them went to a black college in the US. It's something that prepares you mentally to realise you aren't a second-class citizen. Something like that can help you make a transition to live in Africa.
"I made Blaxit because of this wave of African-Americans moving to Africa. This trend started to happen around independence of African countries, but the new wave [comprises] people who come to places like this. This new group has certain access in America and comes here to have that lifestyle in Africa.
"Unbeknown to us, we're living out the vision that [Ghanaian politician and revolutionary] Kwame Nkrumah set out for us, of this country being the gateway to Africa for the black diaspora.
"I don't want people to think that Africa is this magic utopia where all your issues will go away. It's just that some of the things you might face in America as a black person - you won't have to suffer with those things here.
"You might not have electricity, but you won't get killed by the police either.
"I want people to understand that they have options and alternatives. Most black people in America don't know that these options exist; they think they have to suffer because there's nowhere else to go. But no, there are other places." On the prospect of more African-Americans moving...
"I think more will come when they begin to see it as a viable alternative. But it's not easy and it's not cheap. I can't say what's happening in America today is any worse than what's been happening at any other time. I think now is the time that people are starting to see they can live somewhere else."
This interview was edited for clarity and length.
..when do the parades begin?
I hope it’s true.
“I may be way to cynical but this reads like a propaganda piece to me. Likely a recruiting effort.”
I’m all for it.
Well, good luck with your chosen career in Ghana, my dear.
Hope you're practicing good self-censorship, Muhammida! Wouldn't want you getting that midnight knock on your door!Internet censorship and surveillance
...Although the constitution and law provide for freedom of speech and press, the government sometimes restricts those rights. The police arbitrarily arrest and detain journalists. Some journalists practice self-censorship. The constitution prohibits arbitrary interference with privacy, family, home, or correspondence, and the government respects these prohibitions - in practice.
Another American who talks like they were brought up in England. Fake news.
I do! I believe that scene may have been featured in one of the “Faces of Death” movies...
when 911 happened, the blacks in Ghana cheered...this is a fact, as my husband was over there at the time...
If America was a country where 8 out of ten people were black, I wouldn’t expect white people to be “in charge”.
The article reminded me of Pravda describing America circa 1971. Good riddance.
From 1999:
“FREETOWN, Sierra Leone — After the rebels had fled into the surrounding hills, Lamine Jusu Jarka was carried to the main hospital here one morning in January. A young man named Mr. Junior, wearing a shirt that declared “C.O. Cut Hands,” had chopped off his arms with an ax.
“I felt as if I am finishing the world,” Jarka recounted from the hospital floor where he lay at the time, surrounded by the legless and armless, as his niece fed him biscuits to stop him from slipping into unconsciousness.
Half a year later, as a fragile peace agreement has stayed the fighting in one of Africa’s cruelest wars, Jarka is still alive. He lives with his family in a makeshift camp for amputees here in the capital, along with hundreds of other men, women and children who are missing a leg, an arm and sometimes, like Jarka, both arms.
The residents of this camp lost their arms and feet to a rebel force that spread terror among Sierra Leoneans not by killing but by leaving people like Jarka as living, limbless symbols of its savage power. The campaign worked.”
I remember reading about this; the rebels would line up the villagers by the chopping block and ask each one in turn: “Long sleeve or short sleeve?”. If you said short sleeve, they cut you above the elbow; long sleeve was closer to the wrist (and probably better for a prosthetic - for both hands, since they cut off both). I would do horrible violence to keep people like this away from my loved ones...
Hahahahahahahahahahahaha! Another lib work of fiction.
Fine by me
I’d be happy to help them leave. Obviously, they aren’t really Americans. Just make sure they don’t come back. Take their passports.
“Thomas Quiwonkpa, the former Commanding General of the Armed Forces of Liberia whom Doe had demoted and forced to flee the country, attempted to overthrow Doe’s regime from neighboring Sierra Leone. The coup attempt failed and Quiwonkpa was killed and eaten.”
Let’s get up a GoFundMe for those who hate America, provided they never may return.
Reminds me of the hilarious Richard Pryor ‘Back to Africa’ skit.
All for it?
We can’t even control illegal immigration? If/When they come back, you’re going to be there to stop them?
Hint for recruitment motives: look at the UK taking back those who left for Syria.
Just good for thought.
If they’ve found happiness, a future they want, and an identity that resonates with them, more power to them.
Better to pursue your dream life than whine about the one you don’t like.
OK, continue...
"You might not have electricity,
Definitely a small price to pay, in order to escape the hellhole that is America.
but you won't get killed by the police either.
I'm not certain, but I'm just guessing here that the writer has not actually been killed by the police in America.
But clearly no one in Ghana has to be concerned about being killed by police in Ghana.
“It is estimated that between 3,000 and 5,000 African Americans live in Accra, “
It’s a start.
***Oh, never mind...that was 64 years ago.***
To some people that was just yesterday.
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